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Monday, June 25, 2012

Restaurant Wars

We've been having some restaurant confusion in
our family lately. We go out to eat with relative frequency, and my
children can recognize most restaurants and businesses by their sign or
store facade.

When it comes to stores, the ones we visit the most are never confused. Target, Walmart, Kohls, JCPenney, Menards.

But
for some reason, both Cael and Graham have been having a difficult time retaining the appropriate names of our area restaurants. And although
you might think that by now I wouldn't be surprised by my boys'
shenanigans, they have continued to surprise me.

"Mommy, when are we going to see the monsters again?"

"What monsters?""The MONSTERS, Mom. Those dirty monsters in the water at 'Red Monster'."

"Oh, do you mean at 'Red Lobster?"

"That's what I said, Mommy!"

That
one was cute. I could even overlook the blatant denial of his mistake because his
slip was kitschy enough to give him a pass. But sometimes the boys'
mistakes are simply confusing.

"I think we should eat at Mindy's house!"

"Cael, I don't know a Mindy."

"Yes you do. We ate there one time. At Mindy's house! And she made burgers!"

I
actually sat back for a moment to ask myself if I did, in fact, have a
friend named Mindy that I'd simply dropped from my memory because my
brain was too bogged down with memorized Dora The Explorer dialogue or
lyrics to "cheeky" Thomas The Train ditties. And even though I was
pretty confident that I was right about this one, the evidence-- the
fact that Cael knows the exact whereabouts of the television remote, or
can recall the stitch pattern of the shirt he wore on Tuesday, January
16, 2010-- gave me reason to pause. But alas, there was no Mindy to be
found in the recesses of my mind.

"Cael, we don't know a Mindy, and there is no restaurant called 'Mindy's."

"You don't remember her, Mom? She had red hair and they made good chocolate ice cream in the yellow cups."

"Are you talking about Wendy's?""That's what I said, Mommy!"

It
was clear that I'd have to be more discerning when analyzing their
daily banter. Maybe I could pick up on a clue that would help me
decipher their conversations. Unfortunately for me, Graham was next to
strike.

"Boys, where should we eat tonight?"

"McDonalds!"

"Nope,
Cael, let's try and choose a place that has real, good food and not
just a plastic play yard. Graham, where would you like to eat?"

"My fav'rite place is Damnit City!"

"Excuse me?"

"Yep. That 'damnit' place!"

"Watch your mouth, baby. Cael, do you know what he's talking about?"

"Duh, Mom. He's talking about Granite City."

"OH! Of course."

There's nothing cuter or more novel than a toddler audibly swearing because he just really, really wants quality chicken strips.

"Graham, did you mean that you want to eat at 'Granite City'?""Ugh, Momma. Dat's what I said!"

Of course it was. Any more attitude and I'm feeding them to the "monsters".

5 comments:

LOL!!!!! Damnit City... I'll never think of Granite City the same way! I never hear God is good... all the time! & all the time... God is good! without thinking of Cael :) blessings on your day, and your blogging, and you & your boys! ;)~Allison S.

About Me

So here's the deal... parenthood is "shock and awe". When I want sleep, my boys want to mop the floor with toilet water. When I want a hug, someone crams a toy dinosaur down my shirt.
Motherhood may not be what I expected, but it is SO much better. I hope you'll keep coming back to hear what they do next and see how long I can survive!